Disconnected

November 14th, 2014

Nov. 14th, 2014

    Audrey had been noticing things all evening. She was currently on the way to a fancy, family sit down dinner thing for Karson's eighteenth birthday party. The first thing she noticed is that when Karson thought no one was paying attention to him that he kept staring at Andi. The second thing she noticed was that Bradley and Andi weren't as flirty as normal. They were acting more like best friends than a couple. It sort of weirded her out just a little bit. Everything seemed complicated, like Calculus complicated. She stepped out of the minivan and fixed her Valentino Bubble dress before sliding her Dooney & Bourke crossbody bag across her. Andi stepped out after her and fixed her black skater dress with the contrast collar before hiking her Michael Kors purse over her shoulder. This is when Audrey caught Andi sneaking a peak at Karson as he stepped out of the passenger's door.

    Audrey looked over at Bradley but he seemed oblivious to the tension between his best friend and his girlfriend. Audrey desperately wanted to know what was going on. As soon as they entered the fancy restaurant and dropped their purses off with Karson's parents at the table they'd reserved Audrey latched onto Andi and excused both of them to the restroom.

    "What's going on?"

    Andi just stared over Audrey's head so she wouldn't have to look her in the eyes. "I don't know."

    Audrey groaned. "I've missed out on something while I was moping around over Daniel. What. Happened?"

    Andi looked everywhere but at Audrey. "Karson confessed he had feelings for me. Bradley doesn't know. I might like Karson, but I don't know and I'm trying to figure it out. I think Bradley and I are in a fight, I'm not sure, he's acting weird. Still."

    "Karson likes you!"

    Andi gave Audrey a look that said, "Of course that's all you got out of that."

    "It makes so much sense now. Of course Karson has a thing for you. I feel dumb for not noticing before." Audrey continued to ramble on.

    "Shut it, okay? Bradley can't find out. I don't know how he'll react. He might already know, but he could be in the dark. He might lash out and he might be cool with it. He's been acting so strange, at least towards me, that I have no clue how he'll react anymore."

    Audrey took a deep breath to help herself calm down before she nodded her head. The two girls headed back to the table.

^^^

    "We're going to go take care of the bill and then we'll probably head back. You kids just make sure you don't get in too late." Karson's parents were gone in a flash.

    The kids just sat there for a minute. Dinner hadn't been awkward because Karson's parents, like their son, were very bad at social cues so they'd chatted through all the awkward making it un-awkward. Now they were gone and the kids were without their buffer. Now things were awkward.

    "What do you guys wanna do?" Bradley stretched before loosening his tie. Both Audrey and Andi couldn't help thinking about how sexy it is when guys do that. Audrey immediately felt guilty for thinking that, especially with her newfound revelation about Karson having a thing for Andi.

    Audrey knew in her gut that something bad was about to happen, she pushed it away and suggested going to Sonic for milkshakes and tater tots. Fancy restaurants are nice, but the portions are small.

    The other three agreed and soon they were sitting at a picnic table outside the Sonic together, sipping milkshakes and eating tater tots.

    "We need to find Audrey a rebound." Andi blurted this out without really thinking.

    "Yeah, we also need to find Karson here a girlfriend. Like anyone dude?" As Bradley spoke Karson tensed up. Audrey glanced at Karson then Andi then Bradley then back to Karson in a seemingly endless cycle. Karson stared, horrified over at Andi, obviously afraid that she'd told Bradley something. Bradley, who was smiling, slowly let the smile fall off his face. "What? What are you guys not telling me."

    Then, it happened. Karson shot one last glance at Andi and suddenly it clicked. Bradley knew. "You like...Andi."

    Audrey looked down at her feet and Andi looked up at the sky. Karson stared at his milkshake. No one could look at Bradley. "You all knew too. God, I feel so, so, so dumb!"

    Audrey jumped as Bradley raised his voice, Karson shifted in his seat, and Andi finally looked at Bradley. "I found out on Halloween."

    Audrey finally looked up after a couple minutes of silence. Andi and Bradley were just staring at each other. She couldn't tell if they were about to make out or blow up at each other. "I think I'm going to go call an Uber driver and let you three sort this out." Audrey stood and began to walk towards the curb.

    Karson swallowed, and still not taking his eyes off his milkshake, spoke up, "Should someone go wait with her, make sure she doesn't get stolen?"

    Neither Bradley or Andi moved. Karson started to stand up, "Sit down Karson. I think you and Andi have some things to talk about." Bradley quirked an eyebrow in Andi's direction before looking back over at Karson. "I'll go stand with Audrey."

    As Bradley stood to walk away Andi stood too and shouted at his back, "You're picking her over me! Again! You did it on Halloween and you're about to do it again!"

    Bradley spun around, "I don't know what you want form me Andi! I'm trying so hard to not blow up or beat the crap out of Karson! I need to step out, this is my excuse!"

    "What about Halloween then?"

    "What was I supposed to do? Let Audrey walk in on her boyfriend fucking another girl?"

    Karson whistled and the couple stopped fighting. "I think I'm going to call my parents to come get me." He walked away, towards the opposite curb Audrey was on.

    Andi nodded, "Me too." She headed in the direction of the Cook Out across the street.

    Bradley stood there, in between the curb and the picnic table. He sighed and walked back to his minivan. He thought about offering Audrey a ride, but an Uber car pulled up and she climbed inside.

    Audrey sat in the back of the car and cried silently. Andi and Bradley had gotten in a fight over her...or about her...she couldn't tell. But they'd been yelling. There'd been a lot of yelling. Everything had fallen apart. The other shoe had dropped.